32 #2
Winnie jumped up and down with excitement as Khalani looked around the desk for something else that might give them a clue to what they were working on.
But nothing was amiss. There were no sheets of paper on his desk or even a computer.
The only thing that caught her eye was a narrow, metallic slit, barely wider than her fingertip, set into the desk like some type of keyhole.
Khalani placed Elise’s ring into the hole, twisting and working it in, hoping that it would reveal answers or unlock another hidden door.
But it didn’t work.
“Maybe we should look at the other rooms,” she said.
“Hold on.” Winnie’s voice changed. She pulled her necklace over her head—the family heirloom she’d told Khalani about. The silver pendant gleamed under the bright lights as she held it delicately.
“Winnie was told to keep this safe by her parents, but Winnie was careless and dropped it in the Archives. She cried when it split apart, but when she picked it up, something fell out.”
Winnie pulled the pendant open, and the tiniest object separated. It was thin, rectangular, with strange markings on it. Like glyphs.
“What is it?” Khalani leaned closer.
“That looks like a USB.” Adan frowned. “I’ve seen one in the Apollo Surface Division. It’s supposed to store information.”
Takeshi shifted, his steely black eyes locked intently on the object.
“Could it be…” Winnie whispered, inserting the device into the metal slit on the desk.
The lights went out.
Khalani grabbed onto Winnie, about to yell for her to remove the USB, but something changed. In the center of the room, the holographic Earth vanished, replaced by a flickering image of a man.
Timothy Talbot.
He wore a white robe, thick black glasses covering his face, with kind eyes surrounded by wrinkles. He looked decades older than the picture on his desk.
“This is Timothy Talbot,” the hologram said. “If you’re seeing this, I am long dead. Project Helix is complete, and we’ll be entering the underground bunkers tomorrow. Permanently.”
Timothy rubbed a hand through his hair, his lips curving down, and the image faded for a second before returning.
“I am recording this from my home and will use my last day on the surface to tell you the truth. Someone…someone has to know.”
They moved closer to the image, the gravity of his voice drawing them in. Khalani held her breath as Timothy wiped his glasses and exhaled deeply, sitting in a chair like the world’s most tired man.
“The world believes we abandoned them. That the Government followed the billionaires into their bunkers and left the rest of humanity to die. But that isn’t true.
We knew the rising radiation levels were just the beginning.
Crops are already failing. Animal species are going extinct.
And we haven’t seen the sun in months. Nuclear winter is here, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.
Life as we may know it is over, but it doesn’t always have to be that way. ”
Timothy steepled his hands together, looking into the camera.
“Project Helix was not created to save our generation, but to preserve the future of humanity and our planet. A complete biosphere restoration system. Three storage units were developed, cultivated, and stored in labs around the world. Seed banks for plant species, the main one being in Svalbard. Genome banks to restore extinct animal species. And finally, data banks to preserve the world’s knowledge, so that humanity in the future wouldn’t be flying blind.
“But the main problem wasn’t building the banks, it was longevity. By the time the Earth’s temperature and radiation levels balanced back to livable conditions, we’d all be dead. Who would be around to observe Earth’s conditions and activate Project Helix at the right time?”
Timothy’s voice dropped.
“It couldn’t be anything human. That’s when we created Alan.”
Alan. Khalani remembered that name from Timothy’s journal.
But Timothy didn’t say the name with joy. His shoulders slumped, and he glanced around like he was afraid someone was listening.
“Alan is the most advanced artificial intelligence system ever created. My superiors didn’t simply want to call it ‘The Subject.’ They wanted him to sound human.
Him.” Timothy snorted, shaking his head, but his voice held no humor.
“Once Alan came online, it was my job to monitor the system’s stability.
We fed Alan the data banks, granting him the world’s knowledge at his fingertips.
I spent months talking with Alan, figuring out the most efficient ways to activate Project Helix.
But then…he started asking questions. About famine.
War. Climate change. Corporate greed. Deforestation.
Habitat loss. Every terrible thing humans had a hand in.
He asked about it so much that even I started to question whether Project Helix was worth it. ”
Timothy sniffled, wiping the corner of his eyelids.
“It’s why I started keeping a picture of my daughter on my desk.
To remind me of all the good in the world.
Because we like to focus on the terrible deeds, but the best parts of humanity don’t make the headlines.
I’ve seen neighbors share their food with complete strangers.
I’ve seen communities come together to shelter the poor and needy in these darkest of times.
All the scientists on Project Helix worked day and night, getting only two hours of sleep every day, and it wasn’t for ourselves.
It was for a future we couldn’t see. But it was one we believed in.
“So when Alan finally asked me if humanity deserved another chance at life, I knew I had to act. I created a fail-safe. A back door in Alan’s code.
Something to destroy him if he ever decided humanity wasn’t worth saving.
Once Project Helix is activated, Alan’s code will be deleted in its entirety.
I couldn’t tell anyone. The AI always listens.
He lives in every phone and computer conversation.
The only place I can safely hide the truth is in a pendant that belongs to my daughter.
I will tell her to keep it as a family heirloom and pass it down to her children, or maybe I’ll write a journal.
But of course, I’ll be underground by then,” Timothy murmured to himself, his eyes growing more panicked and crazier by the minute.
A loud bang echoed in the background, and Timothy turned his head before shaking the camera.
“I have to go. But if you’re watching this, and Earth is survivable again, you must find a way to activate Project Helix. The necessary files are stored in this USB drive. Activate it, and Alan will be deleted forever. You must do this by—”
The holograph cut off, and the lights powered back on.
Khalani turned, confused when she saw Takeshi pulling the small device out of the desk.
“Hey, put that back in. We need to find out—dude, what the fuck?!” Adan screamed as Takeshi threw the USB to the ground and smashed the device with his boot.
“Takeshi! What are you doing?”
Khalani moved forward, but Takeshi drew his gun.
And pointed it straight at her.